A major issue FairVote encountered when deciding how to discuss the 2016 election was whether “Trump Effect” that is, the ways in which Trump realigned the electoral map along demographic and regional lines, as shown above, is representative of the new national environment.

Virginia and New Jersey were among the states to hold elections for their state legislatures this past Election Day. The results from Virginia, in particular, have been called surprising, but of all contested state legislature seats between the two states, partisanship predicted over 92 percent of the winners.